Book 7 Deleted Scene #01​

“Let me speak to the witch,” Adrian demanded, surprising them both.Angela shrugged. The witch had plenty of heat for him.Adrian braced and asked, “Will you go away, so we can talk in private?”“Yes.” Angela didn’t blink, making him wonder if she’d been expecting it.“No,” she answered wearily. “But there’s nothing she can do, either. I’m being punished. It’s what I deserve.”“Chauncey’s wrong!” Adrian snapped, trying anger. “Why are you letting him trick you?”Angela didn’t respond. She curled into a ball in the witch’s dank cell as the mental barrier closed.Adrian stared at the crimson orbs now glowering resentfully, not positive where to begin. He couldn’t care less about her whining or her accusations. He needed information.The witch knew he wanted to help her host, but the rage at his betrayal was too great to ignore. She forced herself to settle for glaring. It was the best she could do.“I can’t give her what she asked for,” Adrian stated, choosing to be quick and blunt. “Marc will never agree to try.”“He might now,” the witch conceded grudgingly. “If you asked him the right way.”“He’ll say it’s too dangerous for her. He won’t do it.”“But you will, right?” the demon accused hatefully.“To bring her around? You bet your tight, sexy ass.”“That won’t work on me!” the witch blazed, sending out a fire blast that Adrian merely caught and tossed back, knowing Angela couldn’t spare the energy.“Yes, it will and that’s why you’re pissed. You still want me.”The witch lunged forward, putting her demon face inches from his. “Slam you!”Adrian kissed her, but not in the fiery passion that they’d shared before. He placed a loving kiss on her scaly lips. “I am sorry.”The witch jerked as if stung, returning to her place in Angela’s mind. “Bastard.”“Always.” Adrian waited for a moment, and then asked, “Will it kill her this time?”“Ask the true question,” the witch intoned. She also wanted the answer, but on some things, she wasn’t allowed to search without permission.“Is the doctor right? Will it kill her to have another baby?”“With the right care, miracles are possible,” the witch answered, peering through the foggy barrier to the future. She studied the carvings and the elemental formations that spiraled toward Angela’s demise. All souls had the same curve at the end that was supposed to slingshot them into a repetition of their previous lives. When the person finally achieved their goals, the curve straightened out, supposedly, leading them home to the Maker. The witch had never witnessed that phenomenon.“What do you mean by the right care?”“Get her and the herd out of here. These mountains are cursed.”“Because of the refugees she eliminated or the radiation clouds that are coming?”“Because this is the flow point for all the evil,” the witch tried to explain. “Your jet…swim? It carries more than rain. All the negative feelings it picks up are deposited here. Bet you didn’t know that when you sent the herd to this rocky burial ground.”“No, I didn’t,” Adrian admitted. “Before I understood that we have to leave, I thought the mountains would be good for us.”“And when you realized the number of catastrophes that would converge here?”Adrian sighed heavily. “I decided it was perfect. It would force the herd to understand that we have to leave our homeland.”“You made that choice without knowing how awful it would be.”“Yes…but I wouldn’t change that choice, even if I could. We have to go.”“You’ve been on that trip since it all happened,” the witch guessed. “because you saw something else. What did you witness that convinced you to sacrifice your children?”Adrian winced, but didn’t deny it. He studied the beautiful face with the demon’s fire lighting it. “It’s not what I saw. It’s what I know. Biological agents were released during the war. I hoped being in the stone would protect us, but it took too long to get here. I took too long.”“Agents?”“It was important that the population wasn’t smart enough to immediately rebuild,” Adrian revealed in revulsion. “If the survivors were busy fighting with themselves and everyone they came into contact with, rebuilding efforts would fall apart. In case that wasn’t enough, biological warfare was chosen to infect massive numbers. Remember all the medical commercials with effects that included dementia, suicide, or violence? That data came from clinical testing of chemicals on unsuspecting populations–many times as a new medication. The tiny things they cure are actually the side effects of the weapon.”“You were part of this?”“I reached my limit during the Gulf War, when we were sent in to test these things on any troops we encountered–theirs or ours. I’d had enough when I got lost after a run and found an entire village that had been murdered. I recognized the cause of death because I was infecting people with weaker doses of it.”“You’re a carrier of disease!”“No.” Adrian shook his head. “We used dispersing devices. The government was testing ways to kill off the human population. We wanted to have descendants in control openly.”“Because advanced societies will never accept magic,” the witch muttered. “See magic, get the fire.”“Except, we aren’t afraid of fire anymore,” Adrian gently reminded the demon. “Are we?”“No. Now, we love it as another needed tool.”“These chemicals were supposed to gradually change a population into chaos, so that magic users could come forward and save mankind, be accepted.”“This wasn’t a government plan,” the witch accused. “This was from someone like you, someone who believes he’s helping humanity, while obliterating it.”“Yes, but not me,” Adrian confided. “My father worked on it while he was governor of Arkansas. This has been in the works for thirty-five years.”“Your father destroyed the world.”“And gave us a chance to come back in control of it,” Adrian argued. “Between the descendants who want power and the government officials desperate to stay in power, the herds are in grave danger. It may seem as though there are a lot of us here, but we’re the minority of our kind. Most descendants love my father’s plan.”“And you?”Adrian snorted. “I love Angie. I love my fellow Americans, my Eagles. I loathe my evil side more than your host does.”“Prove that and regain your honor with me!” the witch demanded.“How?”“Agree to Marc’s deal and uphold your end, no matter what. Give them the peace they deserve.”Adrian knew better than to blindly agree, but it wasn’t something he could promise anyway. “I won’t lie to you again. I won’t ever give up on Angie, no matter how many times she trades me for our people. In fact, each time she does it, I respect her more, need her more. Go away? Never!”Angela snapped back, fury blazing, but his words couldn’t be denied. She hadn’t chosen Marc over Adrian. She’d chosen Safe Haven. They would have their leader. She would have another chance at a child… Angela’s heart broke all over again and she shoved herself into the grayness to keep from melting down. She had a few weeks to get through and then none of it would matter. Marc didn’t know that the time line was shorter than he’d estimated. He thought he had a year to bring her around, but her reign was over now.Adrian stewed on the information, wondering if she’d let him know how long so that he might have time to stop it. After examining the clues, he understood that wasn’t the case. She was telling him that he didn’t have a year to become Marc’s Mr. Perfect if he wanted to be in control of Safe Haven. He had mere weeks.“Marc once told me you two were childhood sweethearts.” Adrian wanted to be selfish and use this time to advance his bond, but it was obvious that Angela was bad off. She deserved to be with Marc, though it wasn’t what would give her the elusive happiness that humans were always searching for. At this point, Adrian didn’t believe he could either. Maybe a combo of the two of them, like Neil and Jeremy, but they all knew there was no way it would ever be peaceful. Adrian wasn’t sure what she needed and until he was and knew he could provide it, he believed she should stay with Marc.“You know,” Angela began softly, with a catlike setup for the pounce. “All my life, people have planned my future as if I didn’t exist. I think I’m done with that.”When she turned away and tugged the blankets up, Adrian sighed. He was going to push now and duck if needed.”Wise,” she muttered.“He said you grew up together. Same small town and all that.”Angela’s grunt wasn’t encouraging. Adrian tried again, pushing a little harder.“He also said he taught you to give a blow job?”Angela’s form went rigid and Adrian prepared to duck.“So?”Adrian grinned. “Just wondering what else he taught you. That was a question you avoided when you first joined my refugee camp.”“I didn’t trust you yet,” she replied tersely.“You do now.”Silence.“Please?”“Why?”“I’m bored.”Angela snorted. “Yeah, right.”“Is it something awful?”“To me, it was. He taught me that men leave. That’s what you do.”Adrian never would have guessed at her hidden bitterness over something that had happened so long ago. Did Marc know?Angela shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. He can’t change the truth any more than you can. Now let me be.”Adrian refused with his own snort. “What else did he teach you?”Angela felt the tears welling again, but she was helpless to stop them. Her emotions were in control, not her mind. “To love him.”Adrian swallowed his jealousy to help her. “And?”“That…I could only trust me.” Angela looked up with horrible clarity. “I never have, you know. Trusted another person since him. I can’t.”Adrian nodded. Now they were getting deep enough to maybe honestly help her. “You should tell him that.”“I’ve already told him he’s forgiven, that we were kids. I meant it.”“Doesn’t sound like you’ve let it go, though,” he pointed out.“Letting it go and forgiving are two totally different things,” Angela warned. “It’s cause and effect. I don’t hate him or blame him anymore, but I have no trust for my fellowman.”“And that made it easy to kill.”“Yes. My lack of compassion allowed me to murder.”“And if you’d had compassion?”“Safe Haven would have been lost.”Adrian sent sympathy. “It’s hard, what we do. Those choices are so terrible that we can’t forgive ourselves afterwards.”“No.”“I understand. You’ve witnessed me at a low point. I didn’t know how I could continue after everything I’d done.”“Same here,” Angela muttered.“But I did. Because my job wasn’t finished yet. Neither is yours.”“We’ve been over this,” she reminded him stiffly. She knew she needed these talks, but it didn’t make them any easier or more welcome.“Not really,” Adrian countered. “So far, you’ve deflected and misdirected each time we’ve gotten close to the worst of your chaos. When you can admit the last part, you can begin healing.”“I don’t deserve to heal!” she shouted, tears burning down raw skin. “I deserve to die!”Adrian leaned against the cave wall in satisfaction. “Keep going.”“I got her killed! So many deaths to defeat Donner. I’m awful. Marc should kill me.”“And?”Angela tensed in heavy pain. “And…I’m sorry…but I’d do it again. Safe Haven survived.”Angela collapsed in tears and Adrian left her alone. He was always impressed with her strength, but more, with her refusal to lie to herself at moments like this. She wasn’t excusing it, only admitting it. She was a true leader. He was honored to have been her mentor, but now, she would mentor him.“Or we’ll die together,” Angela’s witch threatened, glaring at him madly.Adrian closed his lids, not responding. At some point, he would have to make a truce with that one. For right now, he would try not to antagonize the demon. Angela had enough power now to kill a person without raising a hand. It was amazing. When the ocean became its usual wild self, this council would be able to handle most of it because she was along. The rest would be up to fate. If he was meant to reach the island, he would. If not, at least some of them would because he, and others, had discerned Eagles on that island. Either way, their people would be safe there for a while.“And after that?” the witch demanded angrily. “Will you be dead, finally?”Adrian reflected on the deal Marc had offered and on the one that he had made with Angela. Then, he contemplated his own desires. “Be gone, witch. She’s too tired for you right now.”The demon burst into harsh laughter that rang in Adrian’s mind as she faded. Marc thought he hated enough to kill, but he had nothing on Angela’s demon. If she ever turned the witch loose, Adrian would be gone in seconds. He was at the top of her list, and rightly so. Betraying a descendant was unforgivable.